Nippon Mining & Metals to Expand High Valued Products

Metal fabrication company unit of Nippon Mining & Metals aims to expand its businesses domestic and overseas with 20 billion yen of capital investment during 3 years to fiscal 2008 ending March 2009 when the company unit targets 65 billion yen of consolidated net sales and 13.5 billion yen of recurring profit. The company unit plans to expand productive equipment for rolled copper foil and corson alloy and to increase the sales of copper-titanium alloy in Japan, in order to compete in automotive markets with the high value added products. Mr. Yoshimasa Adachi, president of the metal fabrication company unit, explained current business conditions and mid-term visions to Japan Metal Bulletin.Mr. Adachi expected the demand would keep firm of copper alloy products in fiscal 2006, especially phosphor bronze products could exceed the originally planned sales thanks to favorable demand for connectors. Some of rolled copper foil, used mainly for flexible print circuits inside cell phones, is substituted to high-grade electrolytic copper foil recently, when electrolytic copper foil is cheaper than rolled copper foil. However, he said, worldwide cell phone production seems to have bottomed out and to reach 900 million units per year currently. He expected total demand of rolled copper foil could keep growth even under the substitution.Mr. Adachi explained special steel demand gradually declines with production shrink of cathode ray tube (CRT) television. Nippon Mining & Metals produces copper alloy products and special steel at the same plant in Japan, which is the special feature and the advantage for the firm, he said. The company unit aims to expand production of high grade stainless steel products for automotive parts toward fiscal 2008. Mr. Adachi said the company unit would build the production system to produce several hundred tonnes of high grade stainless steels per month in order to gain profits, while continuing the production of electron gun for CRT TV.The metal fabrication company unit plans 9.5 billion yen of capital investment in fiscal 2006. The unit allocates 5.5 billion yen for the parent company to expand productive equipment for rolled copper foil and copper-titanium alloy at Kurami plant and 4 billion yen for affiliate companies including 200 million yen for plating lines at the production base in Wuxi, China.